Liberal Mary Ng wins Markham-Thornhill byelection

The Liberals held on to the federal Markham-Thornhill riding with Mary Ng the winner of Monday's byelection.

With all 189 polls reporting, Ng captured 51.3 per cent of the vote and finished with just under 10,000 votes. Ragavan Paranchothy came in second for the Conservatives with 39 per cent of the vote.

Ng heads to Ottawa to represent the riding left vacant after former immigration, refugees and citizenship minister John McCallum was named Canada's ambassador to China.

The riding was first created in 2015.

Before then, McCallum held the nearby Markham-Unionvilleriding for 16 years. The redrawn boundaries of the Markham-Unionville riding, however, saw the riding go Conservativein the 2015federal election.

The race for McCallum's vacant seat was one of five byelections held around the country Monday.

All were held by the incumbent party. The Liberals prevailed in Ottawa-Vanier and Saint-Laurent, Que., while the Conservatives retained two Calgary-area seats, including the one last held by former prime minister Stephen Harper.

Ng's victory margin of over 2,350 votes was the closest of the five results.

Turnout in Markham-Thornhill was pegged at 27.5 per cent.